


Strange Bedfellows

by donutsweeper



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-13
Updated: 2013-12-13
Packaged: 2018-01-04 11:49:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1080668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/pseuds/donutsweeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The trip back to Haven has a little detour; a missing scene from the season four opener.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strange Bedfellows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Franzeska](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Franzeska/gifts).



> A Yuletide treat for franzeska, because how could anyone resist writing a story about *that* picture? (Scroll to the bottom to see the picture in question.)
> 
> Thanks to alteregon for the amazing beta!

The thought of returning to Haven without Audrey seemed wrong, but there was nothing they could do about that. The drive was a long one so they stopped at a motel for the night. Since out of the three of them only Jennifer had any money to speak of they decided to get only two rooms for the night.

"I could sleep in the truck," Nathan offered, standing stiff and awkward in the doorway of the room he and Duke had planned to share and staring at its lone bed. "Or on the floor, either here or in Jennifer's room. It doesn't matter."

"Don't be stupid. We can share the bed." Duke brushed past Nathan and threw himself down on the side closest to the door, wincing slightly at the shuddery creek it made under his weight. "It might not be the best, but it's decent sized. We can share. And it has to be more comfortable than the floor."

"Yeah, but," Nathan shrugged, "bed, floor, doesn't matter. Flat surfaces are all the same to me."

"Take your half of the bed, Nathan," Duke ordered, his tone a little more aggravated then he'd have liked, like he was regressing into the person he used to be. Like they were slipping back into the way they used to interact, before. Before the Troubles took over everything, before the Rev and the town needed them the way it did and before Audrey.

Audrey had always been there, to act as a buffer between them, to help echo of them be the kind of person they were supposed to be. She smoothed out the rough patches that made them rub against one another and enabled them to be something other than a twisted-up mess of history and regret. Without her, well, they were at sea, lost in a storm and unable to find their way to common ground.

Normally so steady and self-assured, Nathan was struggling. Even Jennifer had seen it. All in all, it wasn't surprising considering how they'd found him and everything that he said had happened since the barn. Duke should have realized it would be bad; Dave had tried to warn him, but this was _Nathan_ and it was hard for him to see Nathan as anything other than steady as a rock. An annoying rock, but still a rock. But Nathan had always had his convictions to rely upon, without them Nathan seemed smaller, uncertain, broken. 

Duke, meanwhile, was always a little more loose and easy with his world view and it made everything being upended a bit easier to take. Sure, he'd been spit out of a magical barn and landed in a psych ward, but those sorts of things happened. It resulted in him meeting Jennifer and with her help they found Nathan so they could all head back to Haven together. From what he'd heard Haven that wasn't quite the home he'd left, but it was still Haven and Duke knew once he and Nathan put their heads together they'd be able to find Audrey so he wasn't all that thrown by the hand he'd been dealt now.

But that didn't make figuring out how he should deal with Nathan any easier. 

Which all boiled down to what he'd seen today: Nathan Wournos, fighting in a bar. It was a mind blowing thought. Actually, he hadn't even been fighting, he was just standing there and letting himself be hit, taking punch after punch, _for money_. Duke couldn't wrap his mind around that. The Nathan he knew would never....

But that was the problem, wasn't it? This wasn't the Nathan he knew, the one he'd befriended again now that they were older and wiser and all that jazz. He'd gotten to know Audrey's Nathan. And this Nathan, the one standing uncomfortable and lost in front of him, was not that man. 

"Nathan," Duke said. "Nathan? Come on, come inside and shut the door. I don't bite, I promise." Trying to get Nathan to loosen up a little he added, "Unless asked, of course."

That got him a half uptick almost smile before Nathan ducked his head and stepped into the room properly, swinging the door behind himself. "You get asked that often?"

"You know it!" 

Nathan dropped his bag on the room's sole chair. "Okay if I shower?" he asked. 

"Go ahead. In fact, I insist on it." Nathan's earlier quick shave and wash had helped him look a little less like a homeless drunk, but the man still had pretty far to go before he was back to his usual self.

"Thanks." Nathan rooted around in his things for a moment, grabbing out some clothes and a small leather bag, probably containing his soap and whatnot, before ducking into the bathroom. 

Duke waited until he heard the water starting up, just in case Nathan forgot something, and then stripped down to his boxers and undershirt and climbed under the blankets and waited. And waited. And waited. He jumped out of bed, turned the overhead lights off and the ones right next to the bed on so they could just hit the hay immediately and not need talk about or deal with anything tonight. It was unlikely Nathan would be any less broken and raw tomorrow, but he could always hope, right?

Eventually the water shut off and after a few minutes Nathan emerged in cloud of steam, carrying his clothes and boots, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. "Bathroom's yours if you want it. Just give me a second to get changed," Nathan said as he stepped over to his bag. "I forgot something." He found whatever he was looking for, probably a pair of underwear if Duke had to guess, and then disappeared back into the bathroom before Duke could respond.

The light hadn't been great, but Duke couldn't help grimacing at what he saw. Nathan had been thin, really thin, like twenty pounds underweight thin and covered with cuts and bruises - way more than usual. With his Trouble, Nathan never noticed when he'd cut or burned himself or anything like that. Most of the time it was someone else who'd have to even point out that he was bleeding. Usually Audrey, although sometimes it had been Duke. For now, he supposed, it would all fall to him to do. Nathan would probably fight him on it, but someone had to make sure the big idiot didn't bleed to death before they could figure out what happened to Audrey, right?

The door to the bathroom opened again and Nathan walked out wearing a mostly clean shirt and a pair of boxers. "Are you sure you want to share the bed?" he asked.

"Just get in already," Duke huffed, pulling back the blankets on Nathan's side.

"I don't mind-"

"Nathan. _In_." And would wonders never cease, because without another word Nathan climbed into the bed and lay down. "See? This isn't so bad, is it?"

"No, I suppose not." They lay there quietly for a moment before Nathan looked over at him. "I'm glad you're not dead, Duke."

"And I'm glad you showered, buddy," Duke replied and just like that the tension was gone and they both began to laugh.

 

  



End file.
